One of the most buzzed-about TV projects in Apple TV‘s pipeline will no longer be happening — at least not with that streaming service.
All the elements were in place for an Emmy-worthy series. With renowned TV hitmaker David E. Kelley in place to adapt a critically acclaimed bestselling novel, what could go wrong?
Plenty, according to a recent report from Deadline, indicating that Apple TV is reversing course and cutting ties with the project.
‘Bonfire of the Vanities’
GettyBack in April, Deadline reported that Kelley had partnered with Apple TV to develop a new series based on “Bonfire of the Vanities,” the 1987 bestseller from novelist Tom Wolfe.
Joining Kelley — who’s writing the screenplays — as exec producer on the project is another Hollywood heavy-hitter, with “The Batman” director Matt Reeves onboard to direct the series.
Per the book’s publisher, Macmillan, “Bonfire of the Vanities” is “a big, panoramic story” that focuses on wealthy investment banker Sherman McCoy. “When he is involved in a freak accident in the Bronx, prosecutors, politicians, the press, the police, the clergy and assorted hustlers high and low close in on him, licking their chops and giving us a gargantuan helping of the human comedy, of New York in the 1980s, a city boiling over with racial and ethnic hostilities and burning with the itch to Grab It Now,” reads the synopsis.
A New Home Sought
However, after months of development on the project, Apple TV execs chose not to proceed.
“According to sources, the parties were not creatively aligned, and Kelley was not happy about how the project had been handled,” wrote Deadline.
Meanwhile, Kelley has two other hit series that will remain on Apple TV that have each been greenlit for a second season: the Elle Fanning-starring “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” and legal thriller “Presumed Innocent,” which starred Jake Gyllenhaal in Season 1, but will shift to a new character — played by “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” star Rachel Brosnahan — in the second.
As Deadline points out, just because Apple TV has pulled the plug doesn’t mean the project is dead.
Kelley and Warner Bros. Television, the studio backing the series, are reportedly shopping “Bonfire of the Vanities” to other buyers, including competing streaming services.
One likely home for the series could be Netflix. Kelley had previously adapted Wolfe’s novel “A Man in Full” into a 2024 Netflix series starring Jeff Daniels and Diane Lane.
A Notorious Flop
Wherever Kelley’s “Bonfire of the Vanities” series lands, it will represent the second attempt to bring Wolfe’s sprawling novel to the screen.
The book was previously the source for a 1990 movie of the same name.
Despite direction by Brian De Palma (whose credits include “Scarface,” “The Untouchables” and the first “Mission: Impossible” movie) and an A-list cast headed by Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith, “Bonfire of the Vanities” was a notorious box-office bomb.
Costing $47M to make, the film dredged up just $15M at the box office, while generating some of the most scathing reviews in Hollywood history.
In a subsequent interview with Oprah Winfrey, she asked Hanks whether he regretted doing the movie.
“Only because it’s one of the crappiest movies ever made!” quipped Hanks.
In 2016, reports emerged that “The Big Bang Theory” creator Chuck Lorre had signed on to develop a “Bonfire of the Vanities” series for Prime Video, but that project was eventually abandoned.
